Providing a Fast and Multiple Method for Detection and Identification of Transgenic Maize Events

Considering the increasing advances in the field of genetic engineering, proving its importance in achieving food security in the world and also increasing the global exchanges of its products, like other modern technologies, considerations have been expressed about its products. Therefore, regulations such as Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety at the international level and the National Biosafety Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the national level have been approved to gain the trust of consumers. According to these criteria, products containing genetically modified (transgenic) organisms are labeled to inform consumers and give them the chance of decision-making. For labeling these products, the ability to detection and identification of genetically modified organisms is needed. Therefore, in this study, a rapid method for detection and identification of 14 events of transgenic maize in 4 shipments of maize imported from Brazil has been presented. Of these 14 events, 12 are approved by the Ministry of Jihad Agriculture. The other two events have not yet received the necessary permissions and are considered as hypothetical unauthorized events. Detection and identification of these 14 events was optimized using multiple polymerase chain reactions using 7 reactions with the same program, so that in each reaction two events were detected. This method has advantages such as saving time and costs. Tracking results on four imported shipments showed that all four shipments had no hypothetical unauthorized events and the contents of all shipments tested were different combinations of approved events. These results are in full compliance with the information provided in the profile of Iran in Biosafety Cleaning House.